BP Is Dead Wrong To Claim There Will Be No Future Damages

In a rather clever move, BP says it wants the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, to reconsider whether claims of future damage from the 2010 disaster can be justified. Arguing that the US Gulf Coast economy is “strong,” the oil giant told the GCCF in a filing last month that “there is no basis to assume that Claimants, with very limited exceptions, will incur a future loss related to the spill.” When you consider that Ken Feinburg and the entire GCCF work for BP, it’s quite evident what BP is up to. This public relations ploy was designed to give media the impression that the GCCF was being unfair to BP and favoring victims. That’s totally false and hopefully nobody in the media will buy that line.

The bottom line is BP wants the GCCF to stop trying to calculate future damages. Feinberg said his organization “welcomes any and all input from any interested sources, including BP” and will take BP’s submission “under advisement.” Anybody who believes Feinberg and his staff have been unfair to BP at any time since the GCCF was created, has been on another planet. The bottom line is that folks all across the Gulf Coast region are still hurting. Nobody knows with any exactness what the future damages will be. Claims are still being made and many large claims haven’t even been submitted yet. BP doesn’t need to be protected from its victims. Based on what we have learned, it’s the other way around.

Florida senator Bill Nelson, in a letter sent to Feinberg, said revisiting the method to calculate future claims “would shirk the company’s responsibility … to fully compensate those who sustain damages related to the spill.” Sen. Nelson noted that “BP does not need to be protected from the citizenry.” He correctly stated, “It is the other way around.” BP, powerful and politically connected, has had its way in Washington for years. Hopefully, that has changed, but only time will tell.